Yannick Nézet-Séguin Will Shake Things Up at the Met Opera

It was no soprano who let out the high-pitched “Johohohoe!” on Thursday afternoon as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra rehearsed Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer.” It was the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, leading his first rehearsal since being tapped to become the Met’s next music director.

This was an orchestra-only rehearsal, so Mr. Nézet-Séguin, 42, sang out odd bits of the text — sometimes in a tenor voice and sometimes in a decent falsetto. He paused occasionally to give instructions — “more bell-like,” “now rougher” — offering a glimpse of how he is shaping “Holländer” (“The Flying Dutchman”), which opens on April 25.

The baton does not pass often at the Metropolitan Opera, which is facing challenging times. Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s predecessor, James Levine, held the post (and near-absolute power) for four decades and only reluctantly stepped down to an emeritus position last year, after a long series of health problems. Attendance is down, and perilous negotiations with the company’s labor unions are on the horizon. The busy Mr. Nézet-Séguin, already the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and booked up years in advance, will not officially start at the Met until 2020.

So he gave the orchestra players a short, resolute speech in a rehearsal room three floors beneath the Met’s stage. “I said yes to this incredible challenge for the reason that I am passionate about the art form we’re doing,” he said before the downbeat. “I want even more people to love it.”

And in an interview, he made it clear that he was already shaping the company’s next era. He plans to open his first season with a new production of Verdi’s “Aida” starring Anna Netrebko and to start the following season with Ms. Netrebko as Strauss’s Salome. In an interview after the rehearsal, he also spoke of his desire to present more world premieres at the Met and to take an active role in fostering new work, sketching out plans for collaborations with his distinguished Philadelphia ensemble.

He also described his hopes for deepening the Met’s connection to New York, where Mr. Levine, 73, was a beloved but somewhat distant figure. The generational shift was apparent from the way Mr. Nézet-Séguin greeted the orchestra the day before the rehearsal: with a post on Twitter that showed a picture of one of his cats, Rafa, curled up by his score of “Der Fliegende Holländer.”

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the basement studio at the Metropolitan Opera.CreditHiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

What can you tell us about your plans?

The reach that the Met can have is like no other opera house. One example is obviously Live in HD, which reaches people internationally. But it can also reach next door in New York.

I’m not suggesting it’s exactly what we should be doing here, but in Philadelphia we went two ways. We went out of our walls, to more neighborhood concerts, more outdoor concerts, and were present at very important dates for the city, like the pope’s visit. But we also once in a while welcomed people from the city to pop-up concerts, announced 24 hours before, free, and everybody comes. That can be translated with the opera house for sure. The Met has to go out of its way not only to reach, but to welcome the people.

What will your approach to repertory be?

I’m conducting an American piece in my first season. I want to make a statement that my role with our repertoire here in this country will be very important.

The Met for the past few years has been involved in a lot of Met premieres, which were not world premieres — and I think there’s a logic to that, because as Peter [Gelb, the company’s general manager] says very often, “When we do it the second time, the work has lived, and we can make a few adjustments, and it becomes even better.” I like this, but I am really passionate about being personally involved in every step of the birth of a new piece.

We will definitely get involved again in world premieres. And one way we found to make that work will be through collaborations with Philadelphia. We can workshop them in Philadelphia. We can even play some excerpts symphonically in Philadelphia and then have the world premiere at the Met as a fully staged opera. And I can be involved from Day 1.

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Mr. Nézet-Séguin with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He’s already the music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and booked years in advance, so he does not officially start at the Met until 2020.CreditHiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

It sounds like you want a role in choosing the composers.

I’m interested in so many composers now. Some have written for the voice, and some haven’t so far. Certainly Hans Abrahamsen, since he wrote “let me tell you.” Missy Mazzoli, with “Breaking the Waves.” That was in Philadelphia last year; that’s someone who really interests me. Andrew Norman has never really written for the voice, but he’s so brilliant, it might be fantastic to start with him from scratch. Then you get someone I really love and am very close to, Jennifer Higdon, who has written “Cold Mountain.”

What works at the Met?

The risk is always very high here, just because of the size of the place. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t risk it. If you were to ask me “What does Yannick like about productions? Am I a traditionalist, or am I modern?” I am both. I just want beauty.

How do you see your role as music director as you work with Mr. Gelb, who holds artistic powers as well as administrative ones at the Met?

The most immediate role is to be the chief of the orchestra and the chorus, too. They are the core of the Met. They need nurturing, they need inspiration, they need care.

Expanding on this, I’m at the center of things in terms of production decisions and casting decisions. Formally I am sharing that with Peter. It’s not about who ends up deciding what; in a way, I’m not even interested in this. I’m interested in hearing the ideas and at some point just agreeing to agree together.

These are uncertain times. What will you do to make sure the Met can retain its quality?

With the world in general, there is division, fear, reflexes of being for ourselves instead of sharing. If you add this to the fast-paced, hectic life; high stress; less and less culture in schools, that is quite apocalyptic if you look through one lens.

But if you look through the other lens, I think that is why we will become even more special. Not special because “oh, we’re so special,” but special because it will be something so necessary, such a welcome contrast to everyday life. A way to reconvene and regroup together in a place where we feel we’re connected to our own history, connected to our emotions, connected to what it is to be a community together. Music in general has, I think, an even greater role in the years to come.